Episode:14
"SEELE, the Throne of Souls" is the fourteenth episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Overview The first half of this episode is a clip show, in the form of a report by SEELE reviewing Gendo's actions, summarizing the first season of episodes and the story up until this point. In the second half, Ritsuko conducts an experiment to determine if pilots can be switched between the Evangelions they normally pilot. Rei can synchronize with Unit-01 fairly well, but when Shinji attempts to synchronize with Unit-00, it goes violently berserk inside of the base, in a manner identical to the failed activation test that took place before Shinji's arrival in Tokyo-3. As before, Unit-00 attacks the hangar's observation booth, smashing the window. However, Rei was standing at the window instead of Gendo, as was the case in the first test, causing Misato Katsuragi to wonder if Unit-00 was trying to kill Rei. Meanwhile, Ritsuko feels that Unit-00 was trying to attack Ritsuko herself. At the end of the episode, Rei uses Unit-00 to bring the Spear of Longinus recovered from Antarctica to the deepest level of NERV's base, Terminal Dogma. Synopsis The episode begins with a clip of Sachiel's In this episode, we first learn the names of the Angels, from the Third Angel (Sachiel, which Shinji fought in the first two episodes) through the Tenth Angel, named Sahaquiel. Presumably, the names of the Angels are derived from the prophecies in the Dead Sea Scrolls about the coming of the Angels. attack, at first showing how normal weapons prove ineffective against the Angel, before the Evangelion is deployed. Recorded statements by Misato and an excerpt from an essay by Toji Suzuhara (whose sister was hurt in the battle) are included.Misato's narrated report on Unit-01's fight against Sachiel commends Shinji on his performance under duress in his first battle. However, Shinji himself didn't really defeat the Angel; Unit-01 went berserk and he wasn't in control of it. This might be a hint that Gendo is hiding information about the Evas and the possibility of their going berserk. At the least, Misato is "out of the loop" and doesn't seem to understand that Shinji wasn't really controlling Unit-01 when Sachiel was defeated. Next comes the attack of the angel Shamshel, along with part of an entry from Hikari Horaki's diary. The clip of Shamshel's attack ends with a statement that a final report on the analysis of the Angel's body has yet to be filed. Ramiel's attack is accompanied by another excerpt, this time from Kensuke Aida, who mentions Rei Ayanami's selfless protection of Unit-01 during the battle. Gaghiel's attack is notable in deviating from the scenario envisioned by SEELEIn SEELE's briefing, it is said that one third of the UN naval fleet in Episode 08 was destroyed by the Angel Gaghiel. Their dialogue also reveals that the "green"-colored Committee member represents the United States. According to the Instrumentality Committee, Gaghiel's attack "deviated from scenario", although the Committee comfortably writes off the massive naval losses in the encounter as "fortunately minor". This betrays the extreme callousness of the committee towards anything but their own project. Critically, the committee have failed to realize why the attack deviated from their scenario - Gaghiel was attracted to Adam, who was being smuggled aboard the convoy. It seems that according to SEELE's "scenario", the Angels would only ever attack Tokyo-3.. However, the committee decides that the results were within "the projected parameters" and that "necessary adjustments could be made". A full third of the U.N. Fleet is described as being lost, and it is further mentioned that all the lost vessels are American, but the French committee member comments that the loss was actually minor. Israfel's attack, Sandalphon's attempted capture, Matarael's and Sahaquiel'sThe "recap" footage of Sahaquiel exploding in Episode 12 is actually noticeably different from the animation of the same scene which was originally used; this is to correct an animation error which placed part of the explosion in front of a mountain instead of behind it. attacks all follow in sequence. When it comes to Ireul's invasion Ireul's invasion of NERV in the previous episode was a genuine cause of concern for the Committee, who feared it might cause Third Impact. Gendo invites them to examine the Magi's data recorders, but they know he can fabricate those. Ultimately, SEELE chooses to wave off Gendo's smokescreen, ignoring it as Gendo saving face., the facts are listed as unconfirmed, although it is rumored that the Angel penetrated NERV headquarters. This causes a great deal of concern among the committee, despite Gendo's reassurance that no such attack ever took place. The meeting ends with Lorenz leaving all matters of crime and responsibility to GendoThe committee members are extremely distrustful of Gendo, the Russian (blue committee member) going so far as to say "distorting the truth is your specialty". Chairman Kiel appears to be the only one willing to trust Gendo for any length of time. * Fuyutsuki is just as antagonistic towards the Committee, saying that they have nothing to do but complain. Gendo, however, is willing to test their patience., and adding that he does not need to create a new scenario. The second part of the episode contains a poem by Rei Ayanami, contemplating the nature of her own existence, and asking questions about herself and about human beings. After the poem, Rei is seen during a cross-compatibility test with Unit-01, in which her synch ratio is reported to be almost the same as with Unit-00. However, the second part of the test- Shinji's synch with Unit-00Asuka sarcastically taunts Shinji by asking if being in Unit-00's Entry Plug is like being in his mother's womb. * It is of course ironic that Asuka compares Shinji being in an Evangelion to being in his mother's womb, because when Shinji is (normally) in Unit-01, he is in a sense literally "inside" of his mother because his mother's soul is bonded to Unit-01., goes bad when the A10 nerve connections are complete. Unit-00 goes berserk The clip-show recycling of scenes is most obvious in the scene of-Unit-00 going berserk: the animation of Unit-00 going berserk from Episode 05 was clearly just reused and recolored to change Unit-00's armor from orange to blue, and it is not equipped with shoulder-armor pylons, because it didn't have those yet in Episode 05. Unit-01 and Unit-02 are also animated in this episode without shoulder-armor pylons to try to stay consistent about this, as if there was a reason that they were taken off of each Eva for the test; presumably it was cheaper to draw a new shot of the stationary Unit-01 and Unit-02 without shoulder pylons (one frame each), than redo the entire complex scene of Unit-00 going berserk. However, the end shot of Unit-00 bashing its head against the wall is entirely new. in the same way as it did during the flashback in Episode 05This is the second time that Unit-00 has gone "berserk", and this sequence provides clues as to the identity of Unit-00's Soul.When Ritsuko is shocked that Unit-00 is out of control, she lets slip a comment saying "The same thing as before...is it going to try to absorb Shinji?" which seems to be the first reference to the fact that Yui Ikari was absorbed into Unit-01. Of course, it's not clear if Unit-00 really was going to absorb Shinji, this was just Ritsuko's conjecture, and the line before she simply thought that it was rejecting Shinji. In either case, neither Misato nor anyone else noticed what Ritsuko let slip, because their attention was held by the out-of-control and dangerously violent Unit-00., although Shinji escapes with only minor memory loss. Fuyutsuki and Gendo discuss about the committee, the eleventh angel's invasion and Unit-00's berserk incident, at the end of which Rei is seen back in Unit-00, carrying the Spear of LonginusThe Spear of Longinus is first referred to by name, and this is the first time it is seen outside its wrappings. When it first appeared in Episode 12, it was wrapped and it was unclear what it was. Notes * First mention of SEELE's use of the Dead Sea Scrolls as a guide for their "scenario". * After mentioning the Unit-00 berserk incident, Fuyutsuki himself feels that Gendo is too concerned with Rei. * According to the radio broadcast heard in the background when Asuka is laying in bed, political unrest is still taking place in the Nansha Islands in the form of terrorist suicide bombings, 12 years after China and Vietnam went to war over control of the island group's resources in 2003 as a result of post-Second Impact tensions. * Ritsuko and Maya discuss how the relative success of the "mutual compatibility experiment" means that they will now be moving forward with the development of the "Dummy Plug" project, though Maya expresses trepidation about it. * Animation goof: briefly when Asuka is taunting Shinji, when the shot is focused on Asuka again and she's asking aloud why everyone always pampers Shinji, the visual intercom box with Shinji displayed inside says that he is broadcasting from "Unit-01", even though for this episode only, he's actually in Unit-00. References Category:Episodes